1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for controlling an electronic appliance, and particularly, to a method of and an apparatus for remotely controlling an electronic appliance without a remote controller.
2. Description of Related Art
Present electronic appliances such as television sets, audio units, and air conditioners are controllable by touching control buttons installed on the appliances proper or by manipulating remote controllers from a distance. To touch control buttons installed on the body of an electronic appliance, the user must come closer to the appliance. If the user is far from the appliance, moving close to the appliance for controlling the same is bothersome. The remote controller will solve this problem.
The remote controller allows the user to control the electronic appliance without approaching the appliance. However, if the remote controller is not in the user's hand, the user must move around to find the same. This is laborious for the user particularly when the user has no intention of continuously controlling the appliance but only wants to conduct a simple operation, for example, turning on the appliance. Also frequently happening is that the user cannot find out the remote controller when the user really needs it.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. H03-54989 and No. H03-184497 each disclose a method of controlling an electronic appliance with claps instead of a remote controller.
When controlling an electronic appliance with claps, what is desired is to selectively execute a plurality of control operations with respect to the appliance by clapping. To realize this, the control operations must be identified by, for example, changing the number or rhythm of claps. This, however, forces the user to memorize every pattern associated with each control operation and makes it difficult for the user to correctly specify a desired control operation. Also, a malfunction will occur if the electronic appliance erroneously recognizes claps.